The past few weeks, everyone in Hong Kong has been complaining about how weirdly warm this winter has been. I read that this was because of El Niño.
El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate phenomenon that exhibits irregular periodic variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. It affects the climate of much of the tropics and subtropics. The warming phase of the sea surface temperature is known as El Niño and the cooling phase as La Niña.
But early this week, the weather cooled down considerably, and I woke up on Monday morning to 6 degrees celsius, which is the coldest weather I’ve experienced since I moved to Hong Kong in 2020. It was surprisingly not as cold as that time there was a cold snap, though, which even though it was 8 degrees, felt like 1 degree celsius.
I’ve been fine with the cold, thanks to drinking hot food (like my favorite Brass Spoon raw beef pho), turning on space heaters, and layering clothes.
For base layers, I use Uniqlo and 32 Degrees heattech tops and leggings. I find that Uniqlo fleece sweater-and-pants sets do a good job of keeping me warm when I sleep. But when I have to go out, I find the Everlane cashmere sweater is nice because aside from being soft and not itchy, it’s not bulky yet warm. I’ve wanted to buy cashmere for a long time but could not jump the gun because it’s expensive. But I finally did last December when it went on sale. I bought another cashmere piece on sale recently – a Marks and Spencer hoodie. I’m excited for it to arrive.
Snuggling next to my cat, Froyo, also helps with the cold. Speaking of, I bought a self warming cat bed for him last year which he ignored. But this time around, I put it on top of a pillow and forced him to lie on top of it, and he must have realized that it was really nice and warm, because since then it has become his favorite sleeping spot whenever the weather got cold.
Leave a Reply